Islam is as varied as Christianity. Instead of Sunni, Wahhabi and Shia, think Catholics, Southern Baptists and Mormons. They all seem to be convinced that they are more right then any other subset of the religion but are still able to co-exist.

BTW - If you actually want to learn about Islam, might I suggest that you avoid the writings of Ann 'kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity' Coulter?

Concerning the subject of the topic, you are right, who we are to determine who is real islam and who is not. Anyway we can say what is modern (nice) islam. Whannabism is definitively not nice or need a strong evolution.

Concerning the subject of the topic, you are right, who we are to determine who is real islam and who is not. Anyway we can say what is modern (nice) islam. Whannabism is definitively not nice or need a strong evolution.

Yes, but here's the clincher:

Bush (and other western leaders) have basically drawn a line in the sand with what they will and will not accept from "Islam."

While I object to theocracy as a form of government (no matter what the religion), who are we to 'tolerate' one in Iraq if that is in fact what the Iraqi people want? And if they really want it, how can it be prevented?

While I object to theocracy as a form of government (no matter what the religion), who are we to 'tolerate' one in Iraq if that is in fact what the Iraqi people want? And if they really want it, how can it be prevented?

This article does a good job of explaining how the seperation of church and state is an almost entirely alien concept to many Middle Eastern Muslims. It also gives some background on the lengths that Saddam Hussein went to in controlling the Shiites...

Quote:

The main Shia mosques and shrines were demolished by Mr. Saddam's Republican Guard in 1991, in the course of suppressing the uprising, then quickly rebuilt after. Unco-operative Shia imams were systematically exterminated.

...

(Saddam) attempted, chiefly by using oil money to co-opt tribal leaders against the traditional Shia leadership in the towns, to control Iraq's Shia Islam from within. He appointed secret police officers as Muslim clerics, filled their retinues with informers, and reached accommodations with all those remaining outside his Ba'athist Party who also wished to remain alive. Outward expressions of traditional Shia faith were ruthlessly suppressed, on a scale beyond even what had been attempted before 1991, and replaced by a superficially Shia-decorated Saddam worship. Thus sincere believers were driven underground.

Without resorting to the techniques employed by Saddam (or propping up an administration that does so), how is the US going to suppress the desires of the Shia majority?